US Building Fire Trends: Offices, Warehouses and High-Rises

Flames and smoke pouring from an upper-floor window of an apartment block during a fire experiment
A controlled wind-driven fire experiment in a disused high-rise, run by NIST and the New York fire department. Photo: National Institute of Standards and Technology via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Steady, with big single lossesUpdated 4 October 2026

Trend summary

  • Fires in offices, shops, warehouses, schools and factories are far rarer than home fires, and kill far fewer people.
  • USFA estimates 111,900 non-residential building fires in 2024; NFPA counts about 119,500 non-residential structure fires on its own definition.
  • The risk here is concentrated: a single warehouse or industrial fire can cost hundreds of millions of dollars or kill several workers at once.
  • The July 2025 Esparto fireworks warehouse explosion in California, which killed seven workers, is the recent reminder.
111,900non-residential building fires, 2024 (USFA)
470,500all structure fires, 2024 (NFPA)
7workers killed at Esparto, July 2025

What the numbers show

Out of roughly 1.39 million US fires a year, about 470,500 are structure fires, and roughly a quarter of those are in non-residential buildings (NFPA data via Triple-I). The USFA puts the 2024 non-residential count at 111,900. Neither body yet publishes a clean ten-year trend for this group on its summary pages, so we treat it as broadly stable rather than rising or falling.

What does change year to year is the size of the worst events. Industrial and storage fires dominate the list of large-loss fires, because of what is stored inside and how much floor area a single fire can reach before sprinklers or crews contain it.

What is driving it

Large warehouses, lithium-ion battery storage and the stocking of hazardous goods raise the stakes when a fire does start. On the other side, sprinklers and modern codes keep most workplace fires small. High-rise fires are a special case: NIST experiments showed that wind blowing into an open window can drive fire and heat along a corridor in minutes.

Recent cases

  • 1 July 2025, Esparto, California: an explosion and fire at a fireworks warehouse killed seven workers. In February 2026 Cal Fire sent its completed investigation, which it said found evidence of alleged illegal activity, to the county prosecutor (CBS Sacramento).

Press releases and official reports, 2023–2026

Five key releases a year for the last four years, newest first. Most are from federal agencies; a few news reports are included where they are the clearest public record of an event. Releases from 2007–2022 are in the expandable list after 2023.

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View 20 years of major building fire press releases (2007–2026)80 more from 2007–2022, five a year, newest first

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Photo list

Firefighters spraying water on a smoking warehouse
File photo: a warehouse fire at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, 2011. Photo: U.S. Navy / MC1 Brien Aho via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Fire appliance and hoses outside a warehouse wrapped in smoke
File photo: the same Norfolk warehouse fire from another angle. Photo: U.S. Navy / MC1 Brien Aho via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

How this page is built. Figures come from the official statistical releases linked above; where agencies publish preliminary numbers we say so, because they are revised. Photos are public-domain or Creative Commons images credited in each caption; file photos are illustrative and are not from the events described unless the caption says so. This page tracks trends and is not personal safety, medical, legal or financial advice.